


Wind and Grass and Sky

by aceofsparrows



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, M/M, Not really an AU, because it's canon, hang in there y'all this is gonna be wild, it's kinda a mess, just also sorta historically accurate, like so many ocs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-23
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-09 20:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18924625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofsparrows/pseuds/aceofsparrows
Summary: 1898--Alice Lewis doesn't want to leave her friends at the Newsboy's Lodging House in New York behind, but has little choice in the matter when she and her two siblings are sent away on the Orphan Train, bound for a new life in the rural Midwest.1899--When Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise the price of newspapers from 50 to 60 cents per hundred for the newsboys who sell them, Manhattan leaders Louis "Kid Blink" Baletti and Jack Kelly decide they've had enough. During strike that follows, an article in the Sun catches the eye of a schoolboy out in Wisconsin, and Alice is pulled inexplicably back into the life she thought she had been severed from permanently.And the rest is, as they say, history.*CURRENTLY DISCONTINUED DUE TO LACK OF INTEREST*





	1. The Train

**Author's Note:**

> So, I originally wrote this as an assignment for a creative writing course where we had to write a series of prose vignettes, and I didn't want to outright write Newsies fanfiction (smart, right?). So I did a shiz ton of research on the real strike and orphan trains and 1890s New York and tenement buildings and of course about a third of it actually made it in, lol. 
> 
> Anyway, I wanted to continue the story, but also felt it would be fun to add in the Newsies characters and examine a bit of the discrepancies between the actual history behind the show and the fiction created from that history.... 
> 
> Thus, this half-historically accurate mess of a fic about the "real" newsboy strike of 1899, feat. some badass girlsies, basically one giant crisis of canon, and wayyy more OCs than I think I have ever written or will ever write again (knock on wood). 
> 
> I heavily suggest consulting the Wikipedia pages for the Newsboy's Strike of 1899 and the Orphan Trains for general clarity (especially with later chapters). 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Lol, fun historical note:  
> Between 1854 and 1929 over 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, abused, or homeless children were relocated from the overcrowded cities of the Eastern United States to families and farms in the Midwest on what are now known as Orphan Trains. One of the largest sources of these children was New York City, where in 1850 between 10,000 and 30,000 of the city's population of 500,000 were homeless children.

**June, 1898**

“This one looks promising.”

The woman standing in front of us is plain and weather-worn, her face rugged and homely. She squints up at Cecil (who is a good six inches taller than her), eyes scanning his face. I almost expect her to reach out and make him open his mouth to examine his teeth; I feel as though we are horses being examined for sale, or maybe cattle for the slaughter.

“How old are you, boy?” she says gruffly, addressing him directly for the first time in almost ten minutes. He squirms, visibly fighting the impulse to break eye contact with her.

“Sixteen and a half, ma’am.” She nods, clearing her throat and hollering to her equally sun-dried husband across the room. “Marvin! This one will do,” and she points at Cecil, her husband lumbering over.

“Splendid, Beulah. That boy over there is up to snuff as well, if we’d like more than one.” They conference for a moment, discussing crop yields and weight bearing. Finally, they must come to some sort of agreement because there is an exchange of information and Mrs. Morley beckons for Cecil. He hesitates, fear in his eyes as he glances at me.

“Do you think they mean to take me?” He whispers. I want to tell him no, that he can stay with Poppy and I, but we both know that’s a lie. Instead I take his hands and say nothing, simply letting our fingers intertwine and dangle between us for a moment. I feel as if a piece of my soul is slowly being torn away, leaving a gaping hole in my chest. In sixteen years, I have never been apart from Cecil. We have always been together, two halves of a whole. This is the moment where we must part, perhaps forever, and I want to fight it with every fiber of my being.

“Boy, get over here,” Mrs. Morley rasps, and Cecil nods quickly, eyes flicking to her for the briefest of moments before they come back to me. His fingers tighten on mine, knuckles whitening.

“I don’t want to, Alice,” he says, voice no more than a mumble, and I nod.

“I know. But we’ll be eighteen in a year and a half, and then we can find each other again. I won’t go far, I promise.”

Beside me, Poppy whimpers and throws herself at Cecil, clinging to his legs as if he is the only thing keeping her from drowning. “Imma miss you, Cecie…”

“I’m gonna miss you too, Poppy-bear. Be nice to Ali, okay?” He says, smiling down at her. She nods, little face serious and golden curls bouncing.

“Boy! I won’t tell you again!” Mrs. Morley is going red in the face, a vein pulsing dangerously in her forehead. Cecil disentangles himself from Poppy with one last apologetic smile and begins to walk away, shouldering his knapsack. Our hands are still lingering together, neither of us wanting to be the one to let go first. Unfortunately, that task falls to me, as Poppy and I are the ones who will have to deal with Mrs. Morley’s wrath if Cecil dallies any longer. I let his hand slide from mine, shivering at the immediate chill when he has crossed the room and left us behind.

I can see him talking to Beulah and Marvin and the other boy, Peter. Then, with one last glance at us, they exit the tiny schoolhouse, most likely off to the man and woman’s farm outside of town. Poppy starts to cry. I pick her up in my arms, cradling her tired little body and following Mrs. Morley and the other children who weren’t chosen out to the train. A wagon jostles away across the waving prairie in the distance, and for a moment I think I almost catch a flash of Cecil’s wheat-blond hair ruffled in the wind.

The train is hot, and Poppy soon cries herself to sleep, napping fitfully on my lap. We pull away from the station, leaving only dust and sadness in our wake. I count the days on my hands, realizing it has only been little more than a week since we left New York City, though it seems like much longer. Little more than a week since we said goodbye to our friends at the Lodging House in Manhattan. Little more than a week since Blink kissed me farewell on the platform just as the conductor called for us to take our seats. I still remember the warmth of his lips, and the fleeting feeling that it was the last I would see of him for a very long while.

Mrs. Morley hands out apples and sandwiches wrapped in wax paper, and I wake Poppy from her slumber. We eat in silence, staring out at the endless grass and sky as it flies past us. I know we both secretly hope we will not be separated again, that in a year or two we can go back to the town we have just left― find Cecil and go home to the city.

And yet, for the first time since we began this journey, I am not as sure or hopeful that this story will have a happy ending.

Poppy speaks as the lamps in the compartment are just being lit, the sun dipping below the horizon outside. They are her first words since this morning when we lost Cecil, and they are small and quiet, tiptoeing from her mouth.

“Are we going to die out here, Alice, all alone?” She asks.

And I want to tell her no, but we both know it would be my biggest lie yet.


	2. Running From Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice tells Blink she and Cecil and Poppy are leaving Manhattan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2! Yay!  
> Thank you to everyone who read chapter one, and I hope you enjoy this one. It's really short again... sorry! But hopefully it's still decent :)
> 
> Enjoy!

**June, 1898**

 

“You leavin’ then? For sure?” Blink sits on the fire escape next to me, long legs dangling languidly over the edge. 

I sigh. “Yeah. There’s a train leaving Grand Central in two weeks, and Mister Charles says it’s in our best interest to be on it.” 

He nods, gazing absently out at the city. The sun is setting, and a thousand lights flicker to life, the nearest kerosine, the farthest electric. They look like stars, all twinkling at once. 

There is a subtle silence between us, one that lends itself to contemplation and melancholy. I know that the news of our leaving is not sitting well with Blink simply from the way he shifts slightly closer to me, shoulders tight. 

“Ol’ Charlie don’ know ev’rything, you know,” he says after a moment, tone hard to judge. I nudge his calf with my foot, the comforting gesture also serving as a passing reminder about how short I am compared to him. I secretly blame my stocky, well-endowed Irish mother. 

“I know. But he does know the kind ‘a grown-ups this city turns kids like us into. I won’t be able to work at the textile factory much longer with my lungs the way they are, and Poppy’s too little to really do much at all for herself. We gotta get out, Blink, before this damn place grinds us to dust.” I try to get him to look at me, to force him to see the sincerity and desperation in my eyes, but he refuses. 

He laughs, short and rough and without mirth. “And what about me, eh? You just gonna leave me here to be dust?” 

I feel tears gather in my eyes, and I uncurl a hand from my lap to lace my fingers tentatively through his. His knuckles are rough from fighting, and my palms and fingertips are calloused from sewing for eight to ten hours a day. We match, both hardened by the lives we lead. Blink finally looks at me, seeing the tears streaked on my cheeks and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. 

“I know it ain’t your choice,” he whispers, voice thick, and presses a firm kiss to my hairline. “I just don’ wanna lose you is all.” 

“I don’t wanna lose you either, Louis,” I whisper back, using his given name. I’m the only one who’s allowed to, mostly because I’m the only one who knows it. He sniffs, full-on crying now, and I throw my arms around him, holding on for dear life. His thin fingers find my hair, winding the ends of my long wheat-colored plaits around and around. 

After a long moment he gives a hollow laugh into my shoulder, and I pull back to look at him. “What?” 

He shakes his head, dimples creeping into his cheeks just slightly as the corners of his mouth turn up. “I was just thinkin’ ‘bout how I’m gonna be losin’ one of my best sellers in Cecil.” 

I smile, glad deep down that he’s accepted this enough to joke about it. “Yeah, you’ll never see another like him, that’s for sure.” 

I’m not sure how long we stay there, sitting comfortably in each other’s embrace, clinging to this last moment of closeness and peace. It seems like forever and no time all at once, because soon the sun has set and the night-time chill has started to creep in. Blink finally pulls away, wiping his wet face and nose on his shirt sleeve and straightening his vest. I tidy myself as well, swiping at tears and snot with the hem of my skirt. 

“It’s getting late,” he says absently and I nod. “I best be gettin’ the boys to bed. Early day tomorrow and all that.” 

“Of course.” 

And like a strike of lightning or a snap of the finger, the moment is gone, tucked back away with everything else complicated and emotional in our lives. Louis is gone and Blink is back, mask replacing raw soul. My mask has been reinstated as well, and now I am Miss Lewis, the caretaker of the little ones at the Lodge and the headstrong working girl. Alice is buried deep, her lock and key carefully hidden. 

“After you, darlin’,” Blink says all low and formal like, sweeping an arm wide with faux gentry as I climb back through the open window. I laugh and smile a winning smile, one I know only he can tell will never reach my eyes.    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter three coming soon! (I'm editing it currently, so sometime this week hopefully?)   
> Please comment and let me know what you think-- if you like it, what you think will happen next etc. I read all comments and am going to try to respond to them too. :) I'm still new at this.
> 
> Have a great day!  
> -Sparrow

**Author's Note:**

> Ta da! 
> 
> As the first three chapters were originally part of a vignette series, they will be quite a bit shorter than most of the rest of the chapters. However, I will be skipping around in the timeline quite a bit, so be sure to pay attention to the date at the top of each chapter. 
> 
> I'll probably post the next two chapters relatively soon as they are the ones I already have written/edited, and after those I will endeavor to post every two weeks or so, but I've got a busy summer ahead and can't guarantee anything. I'm kinda shiz at deadlines-- which is why I have you guys to remind me when I need to get my butt in gear and update!
> 
> Please comment! I love hearing what you think of a story-- it helps me keep writing, and it's also just lovely to know you all are out there reading! 
> 
> Bises,  
> -Sparrow
> 
> PS: Would somebody be kind enough to explain the "rules" of songfics to me? I have one that I wrote and really love, but I want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong before I post it. Thank you so much!!


End file.
